2010 Olympic Preview to Ice Dance

The Ice Dance competition could be the most delicious of all of the contested events in Vancouver. Not only are the competitors well matched in terms of difficulty and scoring potential, but there is also the omnipresent power of politics, scandal, and judging alliances that often plague ice dance competitions.

I always enjoy reading the Golden Skate previews and reviews and usually find them fair and an interesting read. However, this time around I don't feel the dance preview was completely on point.

I have to disagree about some of the comments made regarding B&A. A Vegas and Jesus mishmash? I thought the article wasn't completely fair to Tanith and Ben and is just playing along with the B&A are past their prime and shouldn't be contending for top medals along with the rest of the skaters train of thought. The article made it sound as if B&A are the worst of the top five contenders and even with fair juding would only be able to barely snatch the bronze.

It may be true that B&A will have a difficult time getting on the podium but IMO it's not because of anything lacking on their parts this season. B&A are suffering more because the judges from various federations are jockeying for position to score medals for their skaters than they are from bad programs or lack of talent.

IMO it's true that B&A seemed to be on a down swing after 2008 Worlds but before this season began, I would say they were on the upswing. Winning a portion of the dance event at Worlds for the first time and ending a season that many (myself included) thought would be more of a transitional one in which Tanith and Ben would be lucky to win bronze with a silver medal.

Whether or not people end up liking a program or not is purely subjective but I love B&A's FD and don't find it to be a mishmash of anything (well except for the latest costumes). Artisically I find it the best of the top teams. However I also love V&M's Mahler and really like DomShabs' FD.

I realize most people on this board dislike B&A or at the very least are dimissive of them but I find them underrated this season while other teams might be overrated.

The top dance couples are all senior skaters, so I do not want to read about deep edges which all couples have.

It's the one comp, I can never be satisfied without a decent explanation afterwards. and I do mean decent explanation, and not to reread the criteria. We need a spokesman from the Judges as to why one team danced closer than another. and how much that mattered in the scoring.

For me it's just which team comes closest to Fred and Ginger or Gene and Cyd.

I think B&A have to be considered as a top medal contender. One of the things that is going to be key this Olympics as who skates the Tango Romantica well, and how that skating is scored. Like DelSchoes, B&A have skated the TR quite a few times in competitions, but not recently. OTOH, they have always done well with Latin dances (except for falling on the Argentine Tango at Worlds in 2008), and Linichuk surely knows how the TR is supposed to be done. I would be surprised if they are not very close to the top in the CD.

So not all of us here are totally dismissive of B&A. However, their FD costumes at Nationals were so bad that they did make the dance look Elvis in Las Vegas. Mishmash is a bit harsh. The Cup of China costumes worked much much better IMO. And I see that Ben was out of the plastic Elvis suit in the Ice Works Olympic sendoff show, so I hope thye are going back to that.

What I truly hope is that all the top teams will be very close in scoring in the CD. Hope that the judges will not give a cushion to any team and that it will be decided by the OD and FD. All this talk about the CD and what happened at Europeans has me now on the bandwagon for eliminating the CDs. Use them for training new ice dancers but be done with them as far as competition.

Last edited by ~tapdancer; 02-10-2010 at 03:44 PM.
Reason: correction in a word

I love the CDs. I'm sorry there aren't 2 anymore..It's really the best way to compare the technical abilities of the skaters.If they were to be removed,then I think for sure they'd have to change the OD to compensate.

Can't agree ^, We as viewers need some sort of comparison contest, if the CDs are eliminated. I would not mind a thematic approach to the OD if it demanded certain element s together with the same music for all couples. Boring for some fans, but not for the sportsminded fans. The fans not interested in a comparison segment will have their Free Dance later for opinionated judges.

What I truly hope is that all the top teams will be very close in scoring in the CD. Hope that the judges will not give a cushion to any team and that it will be decided by the OD and FD. All this talk about the CD and what happened at Europeans has me now on the bandwagon for eliminating the CDs. Use them for training new ice dancers but be done with them as far as competition.

Unfortunatly, I haven't seen any of Euros, but is this really accurate? How were the other European skaters compared to Dom/Shab in the CD? Were they that much worse? I don't think you can really compare Euros to the Olympics because the best teams (the NA teams, and possibly Del/Scho) weren't at Euros. Chances are the top 4-5 teams are going to be virtually tied going into the OD. I don't think Euros is a fair indicator when everyone wasn't there. I won't be shocked to see Dom/Shab first in the CD, but I fully expect everyone else to be very close behind.